Clues by Sam Oct 02, 2026 Answer – Full Solution Explained
A1
🕵️♂️
sleuth
B1
👷♀️
builder
C1
👩🌾
farmer
D1
👨🍳
cook
A2
🕵️♂️
sleuth
B2
🕵️♂️
sleuth
C2
👨🌾
farmer
D2
👩⚕️
doctor
A3
💂♂️
guard
B3
💂♀️
guard
C3
👩🌾
farmer
D3
👮♀️
cop
A4
💂♂️
guard
B4
👩🍳
cook
C4
👨🍳
cook
D4
👮♂️
cop
A5
👷♀️
builder
B5
👷♀️
builder
C5
👩⚕️
doctor
D5
👮♂️
cop
Final Board State
This puzzle is fully solved.
All characters have been identified as innocent or criminal based on today's clues.
See how each clue leads to the final result
Skip the reasoning — 5 criminals.
Clues by Sam answer for Oct 02, 2026 — a Tricky solved in 16 steps
Today's Clues by Sam puzzle is rated Tricky and resolves with 5 criminals on a 20-cell, 4-column × 5-row grid. The criminals are Eve (C1), Floyd (D1), Jose (C2), Nancy (C3) and Wanda (C5); the remaining 15 suspects are innocent.
The deduction chain, in plain English
01.C4 · Salil → INNOCENT, D4 · Tom → INNOCENT
Kay’s clue says exactly 2 innocent people are neighbors of both Olive and Wanda. The only people in that shared group are Salil and Tom. Since that shared group still needs 2 innocents, both of the remaining people there have to be innocent. So Salil and Tom must be innocent.
02.A3 · Larry → INNOCENT
Tom’s clue says there are at least 3 innocents below Adam, and the people below Adam are Gus, Larry, Peter, and Uma. If Larry were criminal, then those 3 innocents would have to be Gus, Peter, and Uma. Salil’s clue says all innocents above Uma must be connected. The people above Uma are Adam, Gus, Larry, and Peter, so with Gus innocent, Larry criminal, and Peter innocent, the innocents above Uma would be split apart instead of forming one connected block. That clash means Larry cannot be criminal. So Larry must be innocent.
03.A2 · Gus → INNOCENT
Larry says column A has at least 4 innocents. With Larry already innocent, if Gus were criminal, then Adam, Peter, and Uma would all have to be innocent to bring column A up to 4 innocents. But then the people above Uma would be Adam innocent, Gus criminal, Larry innocent, and Peter innocent. Salil's clue says all innocents above Uma must be connected, and those innocents would be split by Gus in the middle instead of forming one connected block. So Gus at A2 must be innocent.
04.A1 · Adam → INNOCENT, A4 · Peter → INNOCENT, A5 · Uma → INNOCENT
Larry’s clue says column A has at least 4 innocents. In column A, Gus and Larry are already known innocents, so Adam, Peter, and Uma are the three people left who could supply the rest of that total. If Adam, Peter, and Uma were all criminals, then column A would contain only those 2 innocents already known there, which conflicts with needing at least 4 innocents in column A. So Adam, Peter, and Uma must be innocent.
05.D5 · Xavi → INNOCENT
Ruby’s row 5 neighbors, Vera and Wanda, contain exactly 1 criminal. Row 5 neighbors of Salil, which are Vera, Wanda, and Xavi, also contain exactly 1 criminal. So the one criminal in Salil’s row 5 neighbor group is already accounted for within Vera and Wanda. That leaves no room for Xavi to be a criminal. So Xavi must be innocent.
06.B4 · Ruby → INNOCENT
If Ruby were criminal, then row 4 would already be complete with exactly 3 innocents there: Peter, Salil, and Tom. Xavi’s clue says row 4 has more innocents than every other row, so no other row can also reach 3 innocents. Adam’s clue says Ruby’s neighbors contain exactly 2 criminals, and exactly 1 of those 2 is in row 5. Among Ruby’s row 5 neighbors, that makes Vera and Wanda the two row 5 candidates, so one of them must be criminal; and among the non-row-5 neighbors, the criminal choices are Megan and Nancy. But with row 4 capped at 3 innocents, the other rows are forced up in a way that makes Henry and Jose criminals and Vera and Wanda criminals, which clashes with Adam’s requirement that only 1 of Ruby’s neighboring criminals is in row 5. So Ruby at B4 must be innocent.
07.B3 · Megan → INNOCENT
Ruby’s clue says Megan is one of Jose’s five innocent neighbors. That directly identifies Megan as innocent. So Megan must be innocent.
08.C3 · Nancy → CRIMINAL
Adam’s clue says Ruby has exactly 2 criminal neighbors, and exactly 1 of those criminals is in row 5. That means the other 1 criminal neighbor of Ruby must be not in row 5. Among Ruby’s neighbors who are not in row 5, Larry, Megan, Peter, and Salil are already innocent. The only person left there who could fill that required criminal spot is Nancy. So Nancy must be criminal.
09.B2 · Henry → INNOCENT
Ruby’s clue says Jose has exactly 5 innocent neighbors. Among Jose’s neighbors, Megan and Kay are already innocent and Nancy is already criminal, so the other five neighbors together must contain exactly 3 innocents and 2 criminals. That means the 2 criminals among Jose’s neighbors have to come from Carol, Eve, Floyd, and Olive. Henry is not one of the two criminal spots in that group. So Henry must be innocent.
10.C2 · Jose → CRIMINAL
Xavi’s clue says row 4 has more innocents than any other row. Row 4 is already full with 4 innocents: Peter, Ruby, Salil, and Tom. Row 2 already has 3 known innocents, and Jose is the only person there not yet identified. If Jose were innocent, row 2 would also have 4 innocents and would tie row 4, which the clue does not allow. So Jose must be criminal.
11.D3 · Olive → INNOCENT
Ruby says Megan is one of Jose's 5 innocent neighbors. Jose already has Henry, Kay, and Megan as known innocent neighbors, and Nancy as a known criminal neighbor, so among Jose's remaining neighbors only two more can be criminals. That means the two criminals in Jose's neighborhood must come from Carol, Eve, and Floyd, not Olive. So Olive must be innocent.
12.D1 · Floyd → CRIMINAL
Gus’s clue says column D is the only column with exactly one criminal. In column D, Kay, Olive, Tom, and Xavi are already innocent, so the one criminal required in that column has to be the only person left there. So Floyd must be criminal.
13.C1 · Eve → CRIMINAL
If Eve were innocent, then the farmers would have 1 innocent, so the builders would need more than 1 innocent. Since Uma is already the only known innocent builder, at least one of Carol or Vera would also have to be innocent. But everyone in row 2 can have at most 5 innocent neighbors. Henry and Jose already each have 5 known innocent neighbors, and Carol is one of their unknown neighbors, so Carol cannot be innocent and must be criminal. That leaves Vera as the only builder who could be an additional innocent, so Vera would have to be innocent. Then column B would have exactly 1 criminal, namely Carol, but column D is supposed to be the only column with exactly 1 criminal. That contradiction means Eve cannot be innocent. So Eve must be criminal.
14.B1 · Carol → INNOCENT
Ruby says Megan is one of Jose's exactly 5 innocent neighbors. Among Jose's neighbors, Henry, Kay, Megan, and Olive are already known to be innocent, while Eve, Floyd, and Nancy are criminals. That leaves Carol as the only neighbor not yet identified, and the fifth innocent neighbor has to be Carol. So Carol must be innocent.
15.B5 · Vera → INNOCENT
Gus says column D is the only column with exactly one criminal. In column B, there are no known criminals, and Vera is the only person there whose identity is not yet fixed. If Vera were criminal, then column B would also end up with exactly one criminal, which would contradict Gus's clue that only column D has that count. So Vera must be innocent.
16.C5 · Wanda → CRIMINAL
Adam’s clue says Ruby has exactly 2 criminal neighbors, and exactly 1 of those criminal neighbors is in row 5. Among Ruby’s neighbors in row 5, Uma and Vera are already innocent, so that row-5 group still needs 1 criminal. The only unknown person left in Ruby’s row-5 neighbors is Wanda. So Wanda must be criminal.